Need GRE Score guidance ?

Graduate School
1

Need GRE Score guidance ?

Thanks for weighing in. I opened a thread

GRE Preparation challenges ?

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/2153254-gre-preparation-challenges.html#latest

As per suggestion received, my son took general GRE and got

Math 156

Writing 5

Verbal 156

He is going to take Physics GRE in OCT. He is saying above math score is not enough for Graduate admission

He has Research Experience
Published One paper
Recommendation Letters from his professors

Does he need to take General GRE again to boost Math score?

Or the above is enough to get good school physics Graduate programs?

Searching on internet, I am not able to find Grad schoolwise GRE cut off scrore.

Are there any resources to find a cut off score for specific Grad school?

Thanks for sharing.

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You can find preliminary info here:
https://www.gradschoolshopper.com/gradschool/browseby.jsp?q=3&cid=3 You can opt to sort through the info via various categories.

Is his score too low? I am very very far from well-versed on this topic, but I think it is going to depend on how you define good. I think he should ask his research mentors what they think and where he should apply. I suspect they might tell him to take it again.

Here is hoping he does very well on the PGRE!

3

Schools don’t have an official cutoff, but his quant is rather low for a top Physics program. As an example, matriculants to Duke, one of the few grad programs that publishes statistics, have a 166+. (Duke is a top ~30 program.)

https://gradschool.duke.edu/about/statistics/all-departments-phd-admissions-and-enrollment-statistics

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Btw, if you click on the various schools you can get detailed info. Also, some schools don’t require scores.

For example, this is Stanford’s info: Additional requirements: No minimum scores specified. The average GRE scores for admitted students to the 2019–20 academic year were: Verbal-162, Quantitative–168; Analytical–4.61; Physics Subject–921.

UCSD’s: The average GRE scores for admitted students for 2018-2019 were verbal–161; quantitative–168; subjective–899.

RPI: Minimum accepted GRE scores:
Quantitative: 146
Verbal: 156
Analytical writing: 4
Additional note for GRE:
The above are the suggested minimum.
GRE Physics requirements
Yes, required.
Minimum accepted GRE Physics score: 600

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Thanks for weighing in .

I did review the URL. There are many schools says GRE required, but the cut off scores were not published. (Colo State, UMD College park, George Mason, Princeton, Boston University etc)

How will a student know about their cut off GRE scores?

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^^gotta start digging thru websites. For example, Princeton:

https://phy.princeton.edu/graduate-program/graduate-admissions/faqs

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Thanks for your guidance. As I discussed with my son, I learned that recent GRE math presented many middle school math problems.

It throw him out of balance . It resulted in poor score .

What is the reason to put middle school math into Graduate admission GRE?

Are there ways for students to raise concern about this?

The students are spending time learning advanced math in college.

Does it make sense to test them on math learned many years ago ?

What kind of preparation for math help him to score better ?

Thanks for sharing.

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@mdri There is no reason to raise concern about the types of math questions on the GRE. Honestly, if a student is capable of doing higher level math, it shouldn’t be difficult to answer simpler math questions. Did he investigate the test at all before he took it? What was on the test shouldn’t have been a surprise.
https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/about/content/quantitative_reasoning

If he hasn’t looked into the breakdown of the PGRE and reviewed what types of questions are on the exam, he should so he can be prepared. There is absolutely no reason to go into the test and then be surprised by the types of questions.

Your son would be best served by working with his advisors at his school to decide where to apply. He needs to think in terms of what he wants his area of focus to be in grad school in addition to whether or not he is competitive for admission.

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The GRE is designed for all college students interested in graduate school, including those who don’t take a single math class in college. The math questions are very similar to those on the ACT/SAT. My two engineering grad students had to review their high school math.

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@MDRI - If your son wants to get into a highly selective program, he should try to improve his General GRE scores. Taking some practice exams might help. As for the PGRE, it is really useful to look at a practice exam and figure out a good strategy for taking it. It is unwise to try to work out the problems on this exam. There are just too many problems to be able to do this.

I agree that he should speak with his mentors to identify programs he would be able to get into. This is the kind of discussion I have with my advisees all the time.